Primary Authors & Sources
From the Institutes through the great American and Puritan systems, students read how Reformed doctrine is ordered from God and creation to grace and the end. John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion remains the foundational architecture of Reformed theology—knowledge of God and of ourselves under Scripture. Charles Hodge’s Systematic Theology is the Princeton classic of loci method for the English-speaking church. W. G. T. Shedd’s Dogmatic Theology presses the same system with philosophical and historical depth. John Owen’s Doctrine of Justification by Faith anchors the heart of the gospel in imputation and union with Christ. James P. Boyce’s Abstract of Systematic Theology gives a clear, preachable survey suited to forming teachers who must hold the whole counsel in view. Together they serve confession that can move from locus to life.
What You Will Study
Students survey Reformed systematic theology from prolegomena through eschatology, studying doctrine of Scripture, Trinity, creation, providence, anthropology, Christology, salvation, church, and consummation in confessional order. The course follows Westminster Confession and catechisms as primary structural guides supplemented by Calvin, Berkhof, and contemporary Reformed systematics. Each doctrine is traced to biblical proof texts and historical formulation with attention to contemporary challenges from liberalism, cults, and popular evangelical errors. Students write doctrinal summaries demonstrating ability to teach systematic theology in catechetical and preaching contexts. The course treats systematics as organized exposition of Scripture's own teaching for worship, confession, and discipleship rather than speculative philosophy detached from the church.
Course Objectives
Objectives include stating major Reformed doctrines with biblical and confessional support, comparing Reformed positions with Roman Catholic, Arminian, and liberal alternatives on key loci, applying systematic theology to pastoral questions on suffering, sacraments, and church membership, and producing catechetical lessons suitable for house church instruction. Students will defend inerrancy, penal substitution, and regulative principle of worship from systematic framework. The course cultivates comprehensive theological vision preventing fragmentary Bible knowledge. Students will integrate systematic loci with biblical theology's redemptive story. Assessments include doctrinal exams, essays, and oral catechesis demonstrations.
Ministry & Life Application
Systematic theology equips elders to teach the whole counsel of God with coherence that protects against hobby-horse preaching and doctrinal imbalance. House church leaders in the Florida Keys gain vocabulary and structure for membership classes, children's catechesis, and elder training. Pastoral ministry rests on firm foundation when shepherds know how Trinity, covenant, and eschatology connect in one gospel tapestry. This course anchors the entire BCFK theological curriculum. Congregations mature when members can articulate what they believe and why across the full range of Christian doctrine from creation to glory.